Lansing Fire Marshal Asks for Help Investigating String of Arsons

Investigators believe the fires were set in a random manner. They're hoping someone who knows something can help figure out why. Says Captain Marshaun Blake of the Lansing Fire Department, “A lot of times people don't recall in the moment, or in the heat of it. If something comes back to them, please give us a call cause every little bit helps."

Lansing Fire investigators are trying to figure out who set a series of fires early Sunday morning in the Hunter Park area.

Four fires broke out during a 6 hour period within just blocks of each other at a house, a garage, a dumpster and a pile of leaves. Investigators are asking for anyone with information to come forward to help track down those responsible.

The charred evidence reveals severe damage to a home on the 1500 block of E. Kalamazoo. Fire officials say someone set fire to the house at around 5:15 a.m. Sunday morning. The woman who lives there was asleep inside. Captain Marshaun Blake of the Lansing Fire Department is investigating. “She was very frightened and distraught and grateful that she got out with the assistance of the firefighters and her smoke detectors, i believe, woke her up. and she got out just before it got really bad."

The second fire happened at around 5:30 a.m. a few blocks away in a dumpster between two businesses on the 1900 block of E. Kalamazoo. The third, started just after 10-30 on the 400 block of South Fairview in a pile of bagged leaves. While firefighters worked to put out the fire, a neighbor ran over to alert them about a garage on fire across the street. Tiffany Cruz lives next door to the garage. She said, “It was just, it was in flames.”

Investigators call all of the fires arson, except for the bagged leaves, which at this point they classify as suspicious. They aren’t saying how the fires may have been set. But they do believe they're connected. Blake says, “Time frame, and the proximity are the first things that lead us down that path." Cruz says she’s not worried for her safety, but can’t understand why someone would set fires to someone else’s property. “Its just horrible. I just can't believe people are just going around doing that.”

Investigators believe the fires were set in a random manner. They're hoping someone who knows something can help figure out why. Says Blake, “A lot of times people don't recall in the moment, or in the heat of it. If something comes back to them, please give us a call cause every little bit helps."

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